by Janel Breitenstein | Oct 12, 2015 | challenging, conflict, difficulty, discouragement, failure, fear, Gospel
The other day I was tucked on my porch in the muted sunshine, paging through the Psalms, when that five-letter word, shame, leapt at me. It made me wonder. What am I ashamed of? I was a little amazed at how fast answers pounced on my mind. Shame carries tremendous...
by Janel Breitenstein | Oct 9, 2015 | children, Humor, kids, Parenting
…Because there’s just too much real life not to share. Second son: Mom, I think I need your help. I have a mosquito bite on my beauteous maximus. *** Third son: It’s my turn for the Spiderman costume! Daughter: O-kay. [sighs] But this time you have...
by Janel Breitenstein | Oct 7, 2015 | challenging, conflict, difficulty, enduring love, practical
Missed Part I? Get it here. 5. Venting—to people who aren’t part of the solution. Widening the circle of knowledge about a conflict to include people who aren’t going to lead you toward reconciling or problem-solving is often putting a label of “authenticity” on...
by Janel Breitenstein | Oct 5, 2015 | challenging, difficulty, enduring love, relationships, staying in love
I’m grateful to Peacemakers and their superb conflict coaching trainings for many of these invaluable insights. Conflict is everywhere. And as my desires and, well, sin runs into other people’s, in conflict spoken or unspoken–I’m realizing...
by Janel Breitenstein | Oct 2, 2015 | Africa, difficulty, discouragement, encouragement, faith, Family, fear, love
Today, in heavy strokes, a pumpkin was neatly sliced in my kitchen. Thick wedges of orange lay surrendered on the countertop, awaiting steam and recipes. And that’s when I smelled it: fall. Almost as quickly as it reached my nose, memories collided with each other,...
